The Commission today announces an investment programme worth over €10
billion for low-carbon technologies in several sectors to boost their global
competitiveness.

EU innovative climate action, as announced today, has a range of
benefits for the health and prosperity of Europeans with an immediate, tangible
impact on people’s lives – from the creation of local green jobs and growth, to
energy-efficient homes with a reduced energy bill, cleaner air, more efficient
public transport systems in cities, and secure supplies of energy and other
resources.

Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañetesaid: “Less than three months after adopting our strategic vision for a climate neutral Europe by 2050, we are putting the money where the mouth is. Our objective is to keep building a modern, competitive and socially fair Paris-aligned economy for all Europeans. For this to happen, we will need deployment of clean innovative technologies on an industrial scale. This is why we are investing in bringing to the market highly innovative technologies in energy intensive industries, in carbon capture, storage and use, in the renewable energy sector and in energy storage. We are today unleashing technological solutions in all Member States and pressing the fast-forward button in our transition to a modern and climate-neutral society in Europe.”

The Commission wants to ensure that Europe continues to be at the top of
the league as regards new high-value patents for clean energy technologies.
This leadership provides a global competitive advantage, allowing Europe to
harvest first mover benefits by increasing exports of European sustainable
products and sustainable technology and business models.

The Commission aims to launch the first call for proposals under the
Innovation Fund already in 2020, followed by regular calls until 2030.

Background

The Innovation Fund will pool together resources amounting to around €10
billion, depending on the carbon price. At least 450 million allowances from
the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) Directive will be sold on the carbon market in the period
2020-2030. The revenues of these sales depend on the carbon price, which is
currently around EUR 20.

Any undisbursed revenues from the Innovation Fund’s predecessor, the NER 300 programme, will also be added to the Innovation Fund. Thus, the total endowment
of the Fund can be around EUR 10 Billion.

The Innovation Fund aims to create the right financial incentives for
companies and public authorities to invest now in the next generation of
low-carbon technologies and to give EU companies a first-mover advantage to
become global technology leaders.

The Innovation Fund builds on the experience from the NER300 programme,
the current EU programme to support the demonstration of carbon capture and
storage and renewable energy technologies. It expands its scope to also
explicitly cover energy storage and energy intensive industries and is better
tailored to promote innovation through an improved and simplified governance.
It will offer grants to cover up to 60% of the additional capital and
operational costs linked to innovation for the selected projects, disbursing
the money in a flexible way based on the needs of individual projects.

In addition, following the Commission’s decision to reinvest the unspent
funds from the first NER 300 call amounting to some EUR 487.6 million, the
transfer of unspent NER300 funds to InnovFin Energy Demo Projects is now taking effect and the Commission confirmed that three existing
projects can now benefit from a loan guarantee backed by funds from the NER300.

“Business as usual” could lead to catastrophic global sea-level rise

As hurricane season bears down on many people and
communities this month, one of the key factors linked to increasing severity of
a storm’s impacts—sea level rise—sees new predictions emerge for “worst-case
scenarios”.

Mathematicians and scientists calculate likely and
possible outcomes based on probabilities, with computers able to crunch ever
larger volumes of data to come up with more accurate predictions.

Climate modelling has improved enormously in the past
20 years, and where predictions of catastrophe are distinct—as opposed to
remote—we should take note.

“This is more than twice the upper value put forward
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in the Fifth Assessment Report
[2013],” notes the study.

Such a rise over the next 80 years could trigger the
gradual displacement of millions of people around the world and swallow up an
area of land three times the size of Texas.

Much of the land losses would be in important
food-growing areas such as the Nile delta. Coastal communities, ports and
low-lying countries like Bangladesh would be hard hit. Large numbers of small
islands would disappear. Major global cities, including London, New York and
Shanghai would end up, at least partially, underwater.

Under a “business as usual” scenario where
temperatures rise by 5°C, the picture is even grimmer beyond 2100, with a
projected increase by 7.5 metres.

One of the risks identified is rising sea levels:
“Rising sea levels are threats to the economic and physical viability of
low-lying areas, as land and coastal resources are gradually lost. This can
lead to social disruption, displacement and migration, as well as disagreements
over maritime boundaries and ocean resources.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently warned: “The loss of ice in Greenland and Antarctica is
accelerating, meaning that sea levels will rise a full metre by 2100 if nothing
is done to avoid it.”

Important
warning

Through its Joint Unit with
the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNEP at the request
of governments, seconds disaster assessment experts to areas affected by
climate-related emergencies. This was the case in 2017, after Hurricane
Maria struck Dominica and Puerto Rico, as well as in April 2019 after cyclones
Idai and Kenneth hit Mozambique.

In collaboration with United
Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), and with funding from the Global
Environment Facility, UNEP supported the Government of Tanzania to build
extensive seawalls along the country’s coast, including over 2,400m of defence
structures. The project, which was completed in June 2018, was part of a
broader UNEP initiative to build climate resilience by improving natural
ecosystems.

UNEP also works with partners to highlight scientific
issues of emerging concern, for example, in its annual Frontiers Report.

The climate crisis is gaining the attention of the
world’s media and politicians. Several countries have declared climate
emergencies, and climate emergency declarations have reportedly been made in several hundred jurisdictions and local governments
covering over 100 million citizens.

“With around 40 per cent of the world’s population
living within 100 km of a coast, we need to do everything possible to make this
scenario less likely and prevent us from reaching tipping points beyond which
it will not be possible to prevent runaway climate change,” Hagelberg adds.

Over 6 million people currently live in coastal areas
vulnerable to sea level rise today. Even in a 2°C global heating scenario, 10
million more would be affected, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change.

“Ocean science plays a crucial role in achieving
sustainable development and UN-Oceans remains committed to playing its part in enhancing science to achieve
this objective,” said Miguel de Serpa Soares, Under-Secretary-General for Legal
Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, and UN-Oceans Focal Point, in a
statement on 13 June 2019 in New York.

Related

The urgent need to move towards a low carbon economy and build
resilience, would not only mitigate the worst impacts of climate change in the
Asia-Pacific, but also lift the region economically, according to the body
overseeing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

As Asia-Pacific Climate Week (APCW 2019) wrapped up on Friday in
Bangkok, a key takeaway was that long-term holistic planning would enable
countries there to tap into the huge potential of renewable energy, and new
technology while maximizing socio-economic benefits.

Other compelling reasons to rapidly shift to low-carbon and resilience
were outlined by high-level speakers who warned that current levels of ambition to tackle climate change are putting
the world on a path towards global warming of more than 3 degrees Celsius –
that is double the goal of 1.5 degrees.

Participants agreed that in addition to governments, the transformation
must be driven by sub-national regions and cities, the private sector and
finance.

Noting that over half the global population of 1.8 billion young people
live in the vast Asia-Pacific region, UNFCCC said
that youth groups played an important role in the week, by engaging with
participants and coving discussions on social media.

Key outcome messages will provide “important input to the Climate Action
Summit convened by the UN Secretary-General
on 23 September in New York”, UNFCCC said in a press release, adding that “the results will also help build momentum” towards the UN
Climate Change Conference (COP25) that will take place in Santiago, Chile, 2-13
December 2019.

On the table

Countries are currently designing enhanced national climate action plans
under the Paris Agreement (Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs) and the Summit in New
York will be an opportunity for governments and many climate action players to
announce new plans and initiatives before the NDCs are communicated to the UN
in 2020.

Climate change adaptation planning and finance were also key throughout
APCW 2019, with a focus on communities and ecosystems most in need.

On building resilience to climate change, indigenous peoples from the
region, academics and others, stressed the need for a mindset shift in the
fight against climate change, proposing policies to help transform societies
for long-term resilience.

Carbon pricing, capacity-building and regional climate finance were also
discussed, with a spotlight on highly vulnerable nations.

During the week, work began on a new climate strategy for Indian Ocean
Island States to access finance for priority projects.

And the UN Climate Change Secretariat is assisting 10 sub-regions
involving 77 countries in Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean
in preparing strategies to access scaled up climate finance.

Organized every year in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, as well
as the Asia-Pacific, Regional Climate Weeks allow governments and other
concerned parties to address the full spectrum of climate issues under one
umbrella. The central aim is to bring together the public and private sectors
around the common goal of addressing climate change.

APCW 2019 was organized by UNCCC in partnership with the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and other international and regional organizations. It is the third
Regional Climate Week to this year, following one in Accra, Ghana in March and
in Salvador, Brazil in August.

Next year, the United Arab Emirates will host a Regional Climate Week
for the Middle East and North Africa region.

Related

Ghana Heralds New Era for Plastic Pollution Action in Africa

Ghana will become the first country in Africa to sign up to the World
Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) in a bid to address
the nation’s mounting plastic waste and pollution challenge.

As one of the world’s fastest growing economies, Ghana is regarded as a regional leader in entrepreneurship and
innovation. This rapid expansion of economic activity has brought with it a
mounting plastic waste and pollution challenge.

GPAP will fast-track progress on these fronts by working with Ghana’s
public, private and civil society sectors to steer the transition towards a
circular economy in which plastics are manufactured, used and re-used
sustainably. It will also support and develop locally led initiatives by
creating a platform to facilitate knowledge sharing, connect like-minded actors
and scale up best practices to the national, regional and global level.

“Our partnership with the Global Plastics Action Partnership will bring
together new and existing efforts to spark off innovation and achieve progress
at a tremendous scale,” said Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Ghana’s
Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation. “Our success will
propel Ghana to emerge as a regional leader on the issue of plastic pollution
reduction and inspire other nations to act through sharing our knowledge and
lessons. Ultimately, we hope that this will mark the beginning of a new era of
action on plastic waste and pollution across the African continent.”

“Under the leadership of President Akufo-Addo and Minister
Frimpong-Boateng, Ghana is sending a clear signal that it is prepared to play a
leading role in tackling the scourge of plastic waste and pollution not just at
the national level but also across Africa. The Global Plastic Action
Partnership is proud to assist the country in this role by facilitating
public-private collaboration, assisting in scaling up solutions and sharing
best practices from around the world,” said Kristin Hughes, Director of the Global
Plastic Action Partnership at the World Economic Forum.

About plastic pollution in Ghana

Ghana stands at the junction of unparalleled growth and potential. On
track to achieve the fastest economic growth among all nations in 2019, it has
also shown remarkable leadership in championing new efforts to boost
sustainability across its businesses, rejuvenate its natural environment, and
promote the wellbeing and livelihoods of its people. At the same time,
insufficient infrastructure to manage and reduce waste has led to unsustainable
levels of pollution and leakage, putting the wellbeing of both Ghana’s people
and biodiversity at risk. Urgent and collective action is needed to address
this challenge.

Ghanaians have reacted energetically to this challenge. The government
has implemented a National Plastics Management Policy to address the
unsustainable adoption of single-use plastic. It has also signalled a
willingness to pioneer new approaches to plastic material design, recycling and
waste management infrastructure, and the integration of sustainable business
practices throughout value chains. A number of circular economy and waste
management initiatives have also been established at the local level. The
United Nations Development Programme will act as a key partner and adviser and
is expected to launch an initiative designed to empower waste resource recovery
efforts. GPAP’s role will be to provide a platform allowing those involved in
these diverse initiatives to collaborate, share best practices and scale up
solutions.